Mortgage approvals fell 12.5% in August – BPFI
The number of mortgages approved in August fell by 12.5% when compared to July.
New figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) show 4,650 mortgages received approval during the month.
While that was down on the previous month, it was up by 2.6% on the same period last year.
Of the total, 2,862 or nearly 62% of the total were for first-time buyers.
Mover purchasers accounted for 991 or 21.3%.
The total value of the mortgages approved was €1.399bn.
First-time buyer loans were worth €878m or 63% and mover purchaser mortgages were worth €351m or 25.1%.
The total value of approvals was down 13.1% compared to in July, but up 7.4% year on year.
“Our latest mortgage data shows that mortgage approval activity remains robust, particularly in the first-time buyer (FTB) segment, which grew in volume by 1.2% year on year and by 7.2% in value over the same period,” said Brian Hayes, chief executive of BPFI.
“In fact, August 2024 saw the highest FTB August values and volumes since the series began in 2011.”
“On an annualised basis, 30,583 FTB mortgages valued at €9.2 billion were approved in the 12 months to August 2024, the highest FTB value for any twelve-month period since the data series began in 2011.”
Switching activity climbed by a third in volume terms compared to the same month a year ago, while value jumped 43%.
“Today’s data also indicates some positive momentum in switching activity, which increased by 33% in volume year on year, the highest volume since January 2023 and the fifth consecutive year-on-year increase, albeit from a low base,” he said.
Mr Hayes added that overall, there were almost 50,000 mortgage approvals in the year to the end of August, of which 62% were first-time buyers.
“Given the number of Help to Buy applications to the Revenue Commissioners in the first eight months of 2024 (25,359) has already exceeded the total number of applications in 2023, indications continue to point to a strong pipeline for FTB mortgage drawdowns in the short term,” he said.
Article Source – Mortgage approvals fell 12.5% in August – BPFI – RTE
